Who Is Chaikey ?
She is a Neo-soul artist and creative director. Her creations follow a young black artist’s experiences -her experiences – with health, alter egos, and vices. She always loved the arts and spent a lot of time reflecting, so She started off creating for herself. She was raised by her mother and family in a large, loving, and crazy Caribbean household. It’s challenging to find peace and privacy in that environment, so she has always looked for it everywhere she has gone and in everything she has done and created.
Growing up, she read, wrote, drew, painted – and of course listened to music and watched TV; these were and still are her outlets. Around her middle school years, people started telling her she should be model. She didn’t think that she could be model, and even though she loved music and movies, she didn’t seriously consider or pursue a career in entertainment; she experienced some of worst years of social anxiety and depression in her teens.
She dual enrolled in high school and graduated in 2017. She was still unsure what to pursue but she knew she wanted prove the negative voice in her head wrong. She did; She started modeling in fall 2018. She graduated from PBSC with her A.A. in Studio/Fine Art around that time. Over the years as she got into modeling, she continued painting and writing stories, poetry, and music, mainly for herself.
I got where I am today by creating from experience, being inspired by other artists, leaving my comfort zone, collaborating, networking, getting mentorship, and sharing creations – both mine and others’ – via social media and in person at local events ;She says
Success hasn’t come easily and it’s still on its way to her, but the obstacles are lessons. Some of the challenges are juggling her hats, businesses, creations, mental health, and personal life/relationships while she is healing and getting to know herself as an individual and a creative.
For years, she has had an unhealthy relationship with herself and others she has let into her life. she was smoking and getting into “situation-ships” by her teens. Most people haven’t known this side of her but it shaped a lot of her story.
Fall 2020-spring 2021, she started converting some of her poems and journals into music and scripts for her show/short film/ebook The Diary of An Anxious Black Girl. Throughout that same time period, she experienced an unexpected pregnancy and my grandfather’s passing.
Summer 2021, she recorded a song and performed for the first time. Before and after summer, she fell in and out of depression and slowed down on creating.
It’s about creating more than it’s about competition for me – though of course competition is a factor to consider in any industry or business.
She says; Someone should work with me because I’m making a conscious effort to be my multifaceted, original, honest, and authentic self. I’ve made a lot of my life about creating this angelic image to make up for my insecurities and anxiety. Now I want my image and creations to be truer to me and what I’m living, not some wave, some trend, or what I think other people want.
In her eyes, success means peace, happiness, and freedom in every part of her life. Success means getting up and being able to live, to exist knowing we have more than everything we need. It means thriving consistently; being alive beyond day-to-day survival. Success is being able to be.
What’s next is creating her first EP, music videos, and short films, and curating events for their releases. Her EP “Divine Intervention” will be about overcoming and living a happier, healthier life. She wants to focus on having more fun with the process this time.
People can connect with her and learn more via email, her website, or social media.
Email: iamchaikey@gmail.com
Website: www.ichaikey.com
Instagram/Tiktok/Twitter/
Facebook: Chai Key
